The Sun and the Lion

After enduring the intimidation of Khosrow, the messenger quickly returned from Hisar to Herat and fed back to him the attitude of Khosrow. The box was immediately opened, and the artwork contained inside was directly displayed to him.

Ibrahim picked up the skull, observed it, threw it to the ground, and kicked the curtain of the tent: "He doesn't take me seriously? This bowl doesn't even have a piece of gold or a gem." It’s just an inlay, why isn’t it his own head?”

Then he took out his sword and picked up the human skin: "There are too many scars left by the whipping. This must be a random prisoner found in the dungeon to deal with me. If it is used as a tapestry, it is dirtying my eyes. What a piece of rubbish."

After saying that, a group of bowmen came in and sent several heads and a half-dead tongue into the tent: "Your Majesty, these are the spies who followed the messenger. They have all been dealt with and are all here."

Huslao still kept an eye on it. When the messenger left, he specially sent his companions to escort him on the grounds of preventing banditry. After arriving at the border, they were ordered to follow the messenger to his destination.

He knew that he had no reliable spies to drive, so he only assigned a very simple task - to confirm whether there was a large army gathering at the destination rather than to further inquire for specific information.

But they failed because of their unprofessionalism: the messenger noticed their tracking not long after getting away from the escort; when they gradually approached Herat, they were exposed because they harassed the caravans traveling the same way.

In the end, this group of unknown militants was raided by the road guard who received the report, and was identified as an enemy spy by the courier. However, the messenger was surprised that they went deep into enemy territory without even doing any disguise.

They were then transferred to the military camp, where the deceased's head was cut off and the still-living tongue was handed over directly to the interrogator.

Ibrahim looked at the interrogation records that were sent in and found no valuable information.

After letting the guards sweep away the rubbish in the area, Ibrahim could be sure that Husslaw had been angered by his vulgar surrender letter and would definitely be attacked again after the spring.

Of course, long-term absence of companions would naturally make Hussein suspicious, but Ibrahim planned to send troops immediately. By the time the opponent came to his senses, the two most important strongholds he had had already been besieged.

…………

The Safavid army set foot on the road to the northern foot of the Hindu Kush Mountains in the cold winter wind. Thanks to sufficient preparations, everyone was wrapped up very thickly. Even ordinary soldiers were issued a new one. A thick woolen blanket large enough to wrap around the body and a felt coat as the outermost layer.

While marching along the road, the scouts reported many locations on the roadside that were suspected to be military camps. These camps scattered near villages or small castles were immediately raided by small groups of Safavid cavalry sent out.

However, they did not encounter any effective resistance. Huslao's soldiers either huddled in their tents and wrapped themselves in blankets to keep out the cold, or stayed in their fellow villagers' houses to enjoy themselves, with no one patrolling or watching.

Those who were resting in the tents were the first to suffer. Three or five dismounted red-headed men rushed into each tent with knives to search for living people. When they saw people, they would kill them without saying a word.

The Safavid soldiers moved so smoothly in the tent that they did not alert the group of horse bandits who occupied the villagers' house. They broke open the door and several Kipchaks and Mughals who were still having fun were frightened. got up.

Naturally, they stayed here to vent their desires. The room was filled with containers that contained wine or had once contained wine, and the air also smelled of burning smoke.

Excessive anesthesia from alcohol and tobacco had made the Guregani soldiers present unsteady. They staggered and struggled to pull out their swords and pointed them at the intruder at the door of the house. Some people even fell down with weak legs, and then sat up and thought about life, as if everything that happened today had nothing to do with him.

"You...are...who are you? You are so brave...barging in to disturb me...do you want to kill me?"

The red head who didn't reply went straight forward to fight with them. There were one fewer Safavid soldiers than the horse bandits in the house, but it was still easy to kill such a group of drunkards and poisonous insects.

Then the leading red head looked around. The ground was very messy. Dead bodies, wine cans, cups, tobacco pipes, gambling supplies, coins and the daughter of a fellow villager were all placed randomly. The red heads ignored this messy scene and looked for Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuan.com. They turned around and went out to deal with the Guligani soldiers who had not yet been subdued.

When some nearby villagers who had been suffering from Hu Si Lao for a long time saw that Hu Si Lao's horse bandits were defeated by a sudden attack, they picked up their production tools and rushed out of their homes. Together with the red head, they beat up their enemies - although many of them were accidentally killed.

The local Sunni Mullah even called these red heads: "You are the angels sent by God to punish these fallen sinners. Thank you for helping to send these villains back to the hell where they belong."

After sweeping through the unprotected countryside in this way, the small castle that was supposed to provide shelter became the next target. It's just that the number of troops stationed here is only two to three hundred, and most of the officers stationed locally abandoned the city and fled.

Ibrahim was pushed as far as Balkh City like herding sheep. It was not until here that the Safavid army met its opponent - complete city defenses, a not-so-lazy garrison team and a garrison with normal intelligence. .

Bek Ahmed, who was stationed in Balkh, had long known the existence of the enemy through the deserters pouring into the city. He hurriedly requested assistance from Kunduz, but he had not received any reply yet.

Ahmed is different from those frightened little castle owners. The defense of Balkh city is not fragile. He is also a direct descendant of Huslao, and his soldiers and horses are of two different species from those horse bandits who make up the numbers.

He immediately made arrangements. First, he counted the manpower, granaries, and arsenals he had in stock, and asked military engineers to evaluate the city's defenses and let them take charge of the project to strengthen walls and towers.

However, the Safavid army did not delay their journey on the road. The deserters ran fast, and the forward troops led by Abdul also advanced very quickly. The Safavid army's camp soon appeared within the sight of the Balkh sentries, and there was not much time left for Ahmed.